Member Contributer maxredline Posted October 2, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 2, 2015 After much thought i have decided to go the upgrade route as apposed to the USD fork swap ..... The viffer is such a sweet machine, why spend all the money and time on a sport tourer to turn it into something else aka frankenviffer, Don't get me wrong, I love the idea and those that have, but for me an upgrade is good enough. I'll let you know how it worked for me next summer. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer tbzep Posted October 2, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 2, 2015 Next summer?!? Oh...you're in BC. I agree, that's an awful lot of work on a fork swap for a two week long riding season. BTW, I love my DMr upgrades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Cogswell Posted October 2, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 2, 2015 ^^^ +1 to that. It's turned the bike in to a mindreader. It does whatever you want it to do - no drama. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer deltaboxii Posted October 2, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 2, 2015 All three of my VFRs have had their suspension done by DMR. Jamie's the man! After much thought i have decided to go the upgrade route as apposed to the USD fork swap ..... The viffer is such a sweet machine, why spend all the money and time on a sport tourer to turn it into something else aka frankenviffer, Don't get me wrong, I love the idea and those that have, but for me an upgrade is good enough. I'll let you know how it worked for me next summer. Cheers! I have been asked the same question as to why I didn't put an RC51 front on my Hybrid Gen 5.5 rather than just do the upgrade- Superhawk fork / DMR revalve and springs / Delink the brakes. For what the bike is...a gloriously sounding but somewhat overweight sport (touring) bike... the conventional revalved SH fork works plenty well on the street even for spirited riding. When I want to go faster I will head to the track on the Daytona 675. In the end, the only gratification for me to do the RC51 conversion would have been for the bling factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer maxredline Posted October 2, 2015 Author Member Contributer Share Posted October 2, 2015 I agree, that's an awful lot of work on a fork swap for a two week long riding season. oh snap! I would so love to be able to ride all year long! BTW I did go down on ice on a beautiful February day when I was a kid. The day after, I bought a thermometer 8) "In the end, the only gratification for me to do the RC51 conversion would have been for the bling factor." Wow. My parts guy who is very knowledgeable gave me kodos when I told him I was spending money on the suspension (yesterday). He said that he was a proponent when it came to suspension but most people don't like to spend the money unless they can see the bling. Too funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Dustin Posted October 2, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 2, 2015 Next summer?!? Oh...you're in BC. I agree, that's an awful lot of work on a fork swap for a two week long riding season. BTW, I love my DMr upgrades. You mean 52 week long riding season. Southern BC ain't like the rest of Canada :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer tbzep Posted October 2, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 2, 2015 Next summer?!? Oh...you're in BC. I agree, that's an awful lot of work on a fork swap for a two week long riding season. BTW, I love my DMr upgrades. You mean 52 week long riding season. Southern BC ain't like the rest of Canada :) It looks awfully cold in BC when they do a Classic Tractor Fever show up there! I guess if you are near the coast it buffers the temps considerably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Duc2V4 Posted October 2, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 2, 2015 Both my VFRs and soon my Duc will be DMr modified! I say good call. There's an inverse to that two week riding season...here in So Cal, for the most part we have an all year riding season and I couldn't see having my bike(s) apart for a weekend (perhaps longer) doing the suspension swap, when I could be out riding them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 After much thought i have decided to go the upgrade route as apposed to the USD fork swap ..... The viffer is such a sweet machine, why spend all the money and time on a sport tourer to turn it into something else aka frankenviffer, Don't get me wrong, I love the idea and those that have, but for me an upgrade is good enough. I'll let you know how it worked for me next summer. Cheers! What is the status of your bike's shock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer dude Posted October 2, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 2, 2015 Hey Tim why not share your ride to lake superior a few years back with the gang? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beesting Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 I did the front and rear upgrade over the winter and will agree it changes the bike completely, Made the bike much more predictable and confidence inspiring especially during track days. I went from tapping a knee around turns occasionally to dragging knee consistently every turn(Well left handers at least, need to work on my form on right handers). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer tbzep Posted October 3, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 3, 2015 Hey Tim why not share your ride to lake superior a few years back with the gang? It was a "pretty good" ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
number9 Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 What are the advantage over Jamie's kit versus going with off-the-shelf valves and springs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer tbzep Posted October 4, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 4, 2015 What are the advantage over Jamie's kit versus going with off-the-shelf valves and springs? Two things: 1. You don't have to think. Just tell him what you weigh geared up and how you ride. He sends you the fork kit and/or CBR shock. If you don't want to drop in the parts yourself, send him your forks and he will do it. 2. You will gain additional adjustability in the forks because he includes CBR guts with rebound adjustment that mere valves and springs won't provide. The CBR shock also adds adjustability the stock shock doesn't have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northwood Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 The front kit only has compression, no rebound adjustment. You actually have to think quite a bit. It's not as easy plug and play as you may think. I fought with the rear shock quite a bit to get it to work all together. Actually laid the bike down 2 weeks ago because of ill suspension after this kit. I have since had a professional tune it. I won't blame it all on the suspension, about 20% was rider error. The front was just not set right, and the rear was waayyyyy too soft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer tbzep Posted October 4, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 4, 2015 The front kit only has compression, no rebound adjustment. You actually have to think quite a bit. It's not as easy plug and play as you may think. I fought with the rear shock quite a bit to get it to work all together. Actually laid the bike down 2 weeks ago because of ill suspension after this kit. I have since had a professional tune it. I won't blame it all on the suspension, about 20% was rider error. The front was just not set right, and the rear was waayyyyy too soft. The fork kit uses CBR600F4i internals with Jamie's valves and springs matched to your weight. It includes preload and rebound damping adjustments, not compression. The CBR600F4i compression adjustment is at the bottom of the fork. The CBR shock has both compression and rebound adjustments. You can look at the CBR600F4i owner's manual on page 28 to see the adjustments. You didn't crash because of the suspension, you crashed because you got in over your head. Not being able to adjust your suspension just got you there quicker. Straight from JD's keyboard: http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/79177-new-fork-cartridge-kits-for-vfr750-and-vfr800/?p=966919 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Terry Posted October 5, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 5, 2015 I think I can weigh in here, I have a foot in both camps of the previous two posts. The DMr parts are providing adjustability (tbzep is quite correct, rebound up front, both in the rear) but with customised spring rate and shim stacks to suit the purchaser. In my view just how well the as-supplied settings suit the rider will be a matter of luck/personal preference. In my own experience, I found Jamie's shock and fork damping settings to be too harsh on the road (but the springs were perfect), and I have backed off the adjusters a fair way, and also changed the shim stack in the fork compression valve, in the search for a better comfort/compliance/traction balance. I love how my VFR handles now. However, I don't think that I would blame suspension set-up for a crash. Surely whenever you put new parts on the bike, you set out cautiously and explore how things are working before giving it death? Or am I just showing my age? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer tbzep Posted October 5, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 5, 2015 I think I can weigh in here, I have a foot in both camps of the previous two posts. The DMr parts are providing adjustability (tbzep is quite correct, rebound up front, both in the rear) but with customised spring rate and shim stacks to suit the purchaser. In my view just how well the as-supplied settings suit the rider will be a matter of luck/personal preference. In my own experience, I found Jamie's shock and fork damping settings to be too harsh on the road (but the springs were perfect), and I have backed off the adjusters a fair way, and also changed the shim stack in the fork compression valve, in the search for a better comfort/compliance/traction balance. I love how my VFR handles now. However, I don't think that I would blame suspension set-up for a crash. Surely whenever you put new parts on the bike, you set out cautiously and explore how things are working before giving it death? Or am I just showing my age? You're right exactly right, and said it more eloquently than me. My post was a little harsh. Jamie isn't claiming to hand us dialed-in perfect setups without turning a screw. He just wants us to ride it with his initial settings for a few weeks and get used to what a non-OEM suspension is like before jumping in and turning screws and knobs every which way. Most folks will find they don't have to do much tweaking if they go about it the correct way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Terry Posted October 5, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 5, 2015 The good part about having adjustable suspension is that you can adjust it to suit your riding and conditions. The bad part is that you then spend time riding along thinking "I haven't got this right yet. If I make one more change...". Never had that dilemma with stock suspension!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Cogswell Posted October 5, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 5, 2015 The good part about having adjustable suspension is that you can adjust it to suit your riding and conditions. The bad part is that you then spend time riding along thinking "I haven't got this right yet. If I make one more change...". Never had that dilemma with stock suspension!! That's exactly what I would be doing. It would be bugging me on rides. I had Jamie re-work my suspension but stayed with the stock setup. Probably good that I did - LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 How does Daugherty handle tuning the parts for 2-up riding? In this regard, what about mostly solo riding with some occasional 2-up versus mostly 2-up riding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer RichVee4 Posted October 5, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 5, 2015 How does Daugherty handle tuning the parts for 2-up riding? In this regard, what about mostly solo riding with some occasional 2-up versus mostly 2-up riding? You would want the ability to adjust rear spring preload. The CBR shock DMr provides presents an issues accessing the preload. With the stock shock preload is adjusted from the top, however the Cbr preload adjustment is on the bottom and once installed not accessible. I dont ride 2 up but did want to adjust preload so had to remove the shock to adjust, which is fair amount of work. Once set correctly works wonderfully and am very happy with the improved handling. DMr will modify your stock rear shock with proper spring and valving so that may be something to look into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 How does Daugherty handle tuning the parts for 2-up riding? In this regard, what about mostly solo riding with some occasional 2-up versus mostly 2-up riding? You would want the ability to adjust rear spring preload. The CBR shock DMr provides presents an issues accessing the preload. With the stock shock preload is adjusted from the top, however the Cbr preload adjustment is on the bottom and once installed not accessible. I dont ride 2 up but did want to adjust preload so had to remove the shock to adjust, which is fair amount of work. Once set correctly works wonderfully and am very happy with the improved handling. DMr will modify your stock rear shock with proper spring and valving so that may be something to look into. I had no idea the preload adjustment would be more painful on the CBR conversion. I do not see that on the DM VFR page. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Duc2V4 Posted October 5, 2015 Member Contributer Share Posted October 5, 2015 How does Daugherty handle tuning the parts for 2-up riding? In this regard, what about mostly solo riding with some occasional 2-up versus mostly 2-up riding? Ah ha! This is the dilemma I had, I use my '09 as my commuter/tourer and the weight I carry can vary by a few pounds to more than 100 pounds. When I approached Jamie I asked him to provide me with the best setup for the potential range of weight I would be carrying on the average, in addition, I chose to grab an ABS model VFR shock to have him rebuild for me. Although spring rates cannot be easily changed on the fly, I can at least adjust my preload simply by turning a knob. Here's the rub IMO, unless you get a fully adjustable shock, you really cannot account for having such varying levels of weight and have the "perfect" (if there is such a thing) suspension. The best you can do is find that sweet middle spot that you'll be using most of the time, for the type of riding you'll predominately doing. Once I got the front and rear suspension components installed, all I really had to do is adjust the preload whenever I changed the weight I was riding with, that includes 2 up riding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
number9 Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 For the guys that do a lot of two-up riding, I suppose my advice would be to do what I did -- be patient and grab an Ohlins (or similar) shock that is adjustable. If you're taking a passenger, you can simply twist a couple knobs to get the settings you want. Whether or not they're the right settings I still don't know..! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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